Thursday, August 22, 2013

All I can say is, for a governor Pat McCrory has remarkably thin skin. And a remarkable lack of good grace or — absent grace — any ability to fake it.

Consequently, Gov. McCrory missed his chance today to meet a delightful and very precocious young lady. Madison Kimrey is the 12-year old from Burlington who wondered why the governor signed a voter-suppression bill (my term, not hers) that, among other things, did away with pre-registration for 16- and 17-year olds in high school. She has lots of friends who are teens and look forward to voting, she said.

The same spirit, indeed, that the staff at the governor's mansion showed later that same day when they brought out some cake to a different set of protesters which included, by the way, Miss Kimrey.

Well, if I'm the governor, and my poll numbers are dropping like a stone, and I've been caught fibbing about how I've met with Moral Monday protesters and, for that matter, fibbing about a lot of things including my voter-suppression bill — and if, thus far, I have blown off any and all criticisms of my policies as left-wing claptrap or a liberal plot or, or just plain beneath my dignity to be subjected to — well, this is my chance.

That's right, I'm going to be gracious and welcome this young lady to my office and hear her out over a piece of her cake — from her grandmother's recipe, I'd be pleased to learn.

I'm going to emerge then from our meeting, pose for some lovely pictures, and say how delighted I am that a young person is taking such an interest in state government ... and I'm going to take the concerns she expressed very seriously.

So McCrory missed out on meeting a 12-year old who is extremely bright, very well-spoken and polite, and in no need of anyone to put her up to anything — Madison Kimrey is the real deal and the only unreal thing about her is that she's 12 and 4'8, but she sounds and acts like a young adult. A serious young adult.

With a serious question that the governor would do well to ask himself: How does it help voter integrity to get rid of a program that helps high-school students get ready to vote when they're 18?